The End
by E. V. Roslyn
Summary: The war is over. Bill is defeated, and they won. But at what cost?


**A/N: Inspired by the YouTube video, "Gravity Falls: Safe and Sound" by The Kazriku. It was sad. Very sad ;u;. It also goes along with a strong theory that a lot of Gravity Falls fans have on the fate of a certain, popular main character. My brother and I both agree we don't want him to die, but he doesn't believe it's likely, while I do. Either way, here's your daily dose of angst.**

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No words were spoken. No sounds were heard. It was an unnatural silence that befell over Gravity Falls. The small town Ford once called home seemed so unfamiliar now. It was quiet. Not the kind of quiet one would usually experience out in the country, away from the honks and engines of cars and trucks, with the occasional bird chirping and animals roaming the land. No, this was the eerie silence of the end of a revolution, but the mark of a tragedy. This was the silence of an entire population mourning.

Of all things considered, the people and creatures of Gravity Falls should be celebrating. The demons of Weirdmageddon have been vanquished. Bill Cipher, the most unholy of them all, had been defeated and sent back to where he came from. Any or all information of how to summon Bill had been destroyed. The cave markings had been blown apart over thirty years ago, shortly after Ford realized his mistakes. The journal that contained the information, ironically enough, was destroyed by Bill himself, as well as the other journals.

The people that have been turned to stone were resurrected. Those people were alright again. Families and loved ones had cried tears of joy when they were back to normal. Even Ford himself, whom Bill had turned to gold instead of stone, was back to his former glory. Despite all the people that were saved, there were still casualties that resulted from the apocalypse.

Ford had looked through the list of names over and over. He was glad the list was short, but it was still his fault these people died. It was his fault for ignoring the warnings, for not listening to his assistant, and for turning his back on his brother. If only things had went out differently, if only he had paid more attention to the warning signs, this could have all been prevented. After Ford woke from his golden tomb, he promised himself that he wouldn't make the same mistake twice. Somehow, someway, he did. Once again, he let his brother down.

The population of Gravity Falls wore all black, and they stood outside at the cemetery. Several abnormal creatures were there as well. Ford never thought that he would see the day that the normal and the abnormal would stand together in such a way. It was a strange and bizarre union between mankind and unicorns, gnomes, manotaurs, and other creatures of the unknown. Some of them, formally enemies, were standing close to each other or even going as far as holding hands. In a word, it was beautiful. Beauty that the world has never seen before.

Standing here, in front of these graves, felt wrong. How could he stand here, knowing that the fault was his? These people didn't deserve their fates. He knew that several of the casualties were of imprisoned criminals that have escaped the Gravity Falls prison during the crisis, but Ford had always been one to oppose the death penalty. One name on that list, however, never left his mind. That name gave Ford a heavy, sinking feeling he had rarely known. There were other times he had felt similar pain, such as when he was a child and was bullied for his postaxial polydactyly syndrome, or when Bill revealed his true plans to him, and Ford felt the despair and betrayal from it. And then when Fiddleford had left him for good, leaving nothing behind save for the memories, which he no longer had. What he was feeling now, however, was much, much worse.

Ford had always known his twin to be resilient. No matter what, Stanley would always get back up. If the years they spent apart taught Ford anything, it's that Stanley always knew how to come back fighting. Even now, he still had a little spark of hope that, after the service was completed, Stan would be ready to greet them back at home, with an open can of beer in one hand and a welcoming gesture in the other. Stan would be smiling, and they would talk about their battle against the demons, and how Ford's twin once again pulled through in a difficult situation. They would laugh and celebrate, and everything would be as it should.

A tear rolling down Ford's cheek and the large tombstone in front of him bitterly reminded him that, no matter what he wanted to believe, that wasn't what would happen. Nothing could compare to the sadness that ran through him. He was sixty-eight years old, and he had never known such despair and tragedy. Even the thirty years spent traveling through dimensions of literal horror and hell was nothing compared to losing his twin.

How could he have been so... ungrateful? Arrogant? Careless? Ford couldn't mentally describe it, but he was sure it was all that and more. It was his fault that the victims of the apocalypse died, and it was his fault Stanley died. Had he taken a moment off his work to think about his brother, had he gotten his head out of the gutter for a _moment_... had he been able to know when _enough was enough_... he could have prevented this. Ford always thought of himself as the smarter brother, but never before had he felt so stupid. Stanley had sacrificed thirty years of his life to save his brother once, and he sacrificed the rest of it to save him a second time.

If that weren't tragic enough, Dipper and Mabel, the children Stan most cared about, were there to witness his demise. He knew it was too late to save Stan. The least he could do was block the view of Bill burning him to death. The screams, no matter how much he could have tried, couldn't be blocked. The children heard them loud and clear, and they screamed too. So had Ford.

Dipper and Mabel were standing next to him, facing the grave. The two of them were openly crying softly and holding hands. It was an odd and depressing sight to behold. Ford had spent more time with the boy than the girl. He had witnessed the boy's happiness, excitement, fear, and regret. In the short time Ford spent with Dipper, he had witnessed his highs and lows. Mabel, on the other hand, has only come across to Stanford as happy and bubbly. She was a lovable joy, and when Ford saw her drawings of him and Stan with hearts around them, he couldn't help but smile, despite the tension between them at the time. Seeing the younger set of twins together, holding hands, dressed in black, and mourning for their great uncle, only made him feel worse.

Next to the pair of them was another child around the same age. The child, a blond-haired girl wearing an expensive black dress and long gloves, held onto only her own hands. Ford couldn't see any sign of the girl's parents anywhere, but on the list of casualties, he remembered reading the name "Preston Northwest". Back in the day, he had known the Northwest family to be the richest in the county, probably the richest family in all of Oregon, back when Preston was just a young boy. Ford recalled Stan telling him that he rescued that Northwest girl during Weirdmageddon. Her father's face had been horribly disfigured by Bill, and he died through suffocation. Stanford isn't entirely sure of what happened to the girl's mother. She wasn't on the casualty list, nor was she here. Ford would have assumed she wouldn't miss the memorial, seeing that her husband was dead and her daughter was alone. He concluded that for reasons unknown, the girl's mother had left the town the moment she had the chance, probably to never return.

That realization on top of everything else caused him to drop to his knees. He wept loudly, despite his mind telling him not to. His heart just couldn't handle this level of emotional pain. A hand touched his shoulder, and Ford turned his head to see it was Fiddleford McGucket. While the man he was once so close with had aged terribly throughout the years, and had gone insane, he was showing the early signs of recovery. Just enough to remember what he needed to remember. Fiddleford remembered Stanford, and that was enough for now. The two old men looked into each others eyes, and Ford held onto McGucket like an anchor, pulling him into a hug he never wanted to end. Stanford muttered apologies to him over and over gain while his tears continued to flow.

He turned to look back at the young twins, and he pulled them into a hug as well, which they graciously accepted. Dipper and Mabel cried and sniffled louder, and as much as Ford wanted to keep it in, he couldn't. All he could do was gently rub their backs and tell them that it was going to be alright.

What felt like an eternity later, the crowd of mourners dissipated, and they were the only ones left. Ford collected Dipper and Mabel, and with open arms, the other girl and Fiddleford, whom he knew had no homes to go back to. They climbed in Stanley's old car and Ford drove them home, the ride short, but heavy.

The kids retreated upstairs to mourn in the twins' room, while Ford prepared something strong for him and McGucket, hopefully to ease the pain. He handed a shot of liquor to McGucket, but he politely turned down the offer. Ford took it instead. And another. And another.

Ford had never been a heavy drinker in the past, so he didn't know his own limit. Fortunately, and miraculously, McGucket did, and he stopped him. Instead, he tried asking Ford about the happy times he and Stan shared together. Ford talked about his perfect and happy childhood with him, and their dreams to go sailing together that never became reality. One thing led to another, and Ford paused right in the middle of a sentence. The alcohol had numbed the pain, but by no means made it go away. On a round table near him was a recent photograph of Stan with the kids that Ford couldn't keep his eyes off of. He looked so happy in the picture, and it looked like the three of them were on a fishing trip when it was taken.

Wordlessly, Stanford got up to go check on the kids. Dipper and Mabel were in their shared bedroom in the attic. Dipper was looking out the window while sobbing, and Mabel was looking through a scrapbook labeled "Summer Memories". She cried and threw her book down suddenly to run up to her brother and hug him. The brother and sister held on to each other tightly, as if afraid to let the other go. The other girl stayed just outside the room and hugged herself, not wanting to bother them. Ford approached the girl and rested a warm hand on her shoulder.

She looked up at him through teary eyes, and he smiled back down at her gently. The girl received the non-verbal message and took a step forward and went up to her crying friends. Dipper saw her walk in first, and he held out his hand in an offer to let her join the hug. She looked genuinely touched by the offer, and she accepted it. Once the hug was over, there were still tears in their eyes, but the children were smiling. Ford watched from the doorway as Mabel picked up the scrap book she dropped and opened it to show them different pictures with Stan in them. Dipper and Mabel laughed and recalled the memories they shared with their great uncle, sharing stories with the girl, whom Ford learned was named Pacifica.

Ford smiled fondly at the children, for a minute forgetting about the tragedy in the family. It was only for a minute, however, when the full force of the loss came back at him at once. The tears came back, freely flowing down his cheeks, and his body shook and quivered from his sobbing. All he could do was cover his mouth with his hand to stifle the noises he was making. He faced the ceiling, perhaps hoping he would see Stanley again from the heavens, despite him being indoors.

For a moment, Stanford thought he could hear Stanley's laugh. The innocent and carefree laugh from when they were children. He could hear his twin's childhood voice talking about his dreams. He could even make out the sounds of waves and the creaks of a squeaky swing set. The laughter changed in age, but it still belonged to the same person. He felt someone holding his shoulders from behind, and he let out a gasp. Ford remembered his brother's resilience once more. All logic was thrown out the window for the smallest moment, with the smallest ray of hope that the laughter he was hearing was real. That Stan was still here.

Ford turned around, but saw that no one was there. He cried again, barely even noticing Fiddleford near him, trying to comfort him. The kids had noticed Ford's crying, and the three of them ran up to them at once to hug Ford. He hugged them and Fiddleford, holding them close. Through tearful eyes, he looked down at the children, whom were all smiling up at him through their heavy hearts.

It was then he recalled that tomorrow would be the last day of the twins' stay, and it would be their thirteenth birthday. There was no way Stan would have wanted them to mourn for him then. Not when these kids still had the rest of their lives ahead of them. Ford will admit, he was disappointed that Dipper denied his offer to be his apprentice, however, he now understands his reasoning behind it: nothing in the world was more important than family. Dipper's twin sister was everything to him, and Ford felt guilty that he nearly took that from him. Just like how he took Stan out of his own life, one time too many.

He was sure that the twins would want to see Ford again once the summer was officially over, and once Ford got his name cleared and his life back on track. He thought about the years that have been wasted, and how because of Bill, and because of himself, he was never able to have or raise kids of his own. He looked back at Pacifica. He was sure she was now an orphan, and it was, even if indirectly, his fault that her father is dead. Ford would have to talk to her about it later, but it did sound like a wonderful idea to adopt her as his daughter. That way, Pacifica can be given a new home after Bill tore her's down.

That thought made him smile, and Ford laughed as he held close to what was left of their broken family. He knew he would always have his regrets. He will always have apologies that Stan would never get the chance to hear. He was going to start this over, and this time Ford was not going to make the same mistakes. He can travel to California to spend time with his other brother, Shermie, whom he never really got to know, as well as Shermie's family. Instead of spending the rest of his life cooped up in a lab or a portal, he should spend it getting Fiddleford's life back on track, helping the survivors of Weirdmageddon, and watching Dipper and Mabel grow up, hopefully along with Pacifica.

And he wouldn't miss it for the world.

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 **A/N: I wrote this, and I cried three times and counting ;u;**

 **Sorry.**


End file.
